It saw a new village – Eldonian Village – built on the site of the old Tate & Lyle refinery in Vauxhall .

The area now boasts family homes, bungalows, disabled accommodation, a nursing home, a sports centre, health centre, bowling green, nursery and a village hall.

Tony has just been awarded the freedom of the city, and the Eldonian community based housing association was added to the city’s freedom roll of association.

He said: “For me both recent honours are for the people of Eldonian village. I could not have achieved anything without their support over the years. And there have been many, many challenges.”

The Eldonian Village reflected in the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Vauxhall.

Tony, from Vauxhall, started work at 15 on the day he left school. He worked for years as a fork lift truck driver at BXL on Blackstock Street , until he was made redundant.

He said: “I was one of thousands of men to lose their jobs during the 1970s. Tate &amp; Lyle closed their factory on Love Lane and British and American Tobacco also closed down, putting thousands of Liverpool men on the dole.

“At the time communities across the city were being dispersed out to new towns across Merseyside. I knew many people in Vauxhall did not want to move. Families and communities were being broken up, and I knew it was wrong.

“People were broken hearted. If I had just sat back this area would be a car park now.”

Tony refused to sit by and watch the bulldozers tear apart his own neighbourhood, and launched a housing association.

He recalled: “There were many challenges at the time. I remember meeting Neil Kinnock in the early 80s when we were up against it, and he was very supportive.”

The Eldonian Village.

The housing association went on to build hundreds of new homes on the banks of the Leeds-Liverpool canal and the area became renowned for its pristine streets, low crime rate and strong sense of community pride.

Success brought admirers from across the world to this small corner of north Liverpool and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Prince of Wales have both visited.

Tony was awarded an OBE and MBE and even received an award from the United Nations.

There have been setbacks – in 2011 Eldonian Village Hall was rocked by an arson attack which gutted the building.

Tony says he broke down and wept tears of frustration the day after the fire, but the community soon rallied round.

The following year the village hall year was re-opened at a civic ceremony, when Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson praised the restoration of the vital community hub.

A recent independent survey found that over 95% of Eldonian village tenants are very satisfied with their neighbourhood.

It also has dramatically lower crime rates than the rest of the E114 policing area, which stretches from the Kingsway tunnel to Boundary Street.

The survey, from April 2015 to January 2016, found that there were no reported robberies in the village compared to 69 in the E114 police area, and only two instances of anti-social behaviour compared to 159 in the rest of the zone.

Tony, who is about to turn 80, has just been re-elected as chairman of the housing association for another three years.

He said: “Today we own 382 properties and have around 500 tenants.

“We recently celebrated a canal festival, and an independent report has placed the housing association as one of the best in the country.